Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Combs' ex-assistant 'Mia' to continue testimony next week

The case against Sean Combs is based primarily on the accounts of four alleged victims. On Thursday, the jury will hear from one of them, a former Combs employee testifying under the pseudonym “Mia.”

Federal prosecutors allege that Combs subjected “Mia” to physical violence, psychological torture and threats of financial and reputational harm that caused her to engage in sex acts with him.

“Mia” also allegedly kept a scrapbook that contained articles about Combs, which the defense wants the jury to see. “She loved Mr. Combs and wanted to promote his legacy,” defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro has said.

For prosecutors, “Mia’s” testimony is meant, at least in part, to convince the jury that Combs used forced labor as part of the criminal enterprise they allege he was operating.

Combs has denied running a criminal enterprise but a stylist who used to work for Combs and who was compelled to testify under a subpoena told the court on Wednesday that he committed crimes for Combs during his employment.

“Did you participate in any criminal conduct for Mr. Combs?” defense attorney Xavier Donaldson asked the stylist, Deonte Nash.

“Yes,” Nash responded. Donaldson did not ask Nash additional questions about which crimes he allegedly committed.

Nash, who remains a friend of Cassie Ventura, also testified Wednesday that he once time witnessed Combs beating Ventura “until her head hit the edge of the bed frame,” which he told the court drew blood and caused a gash by her eyebrow. Another time, according to Nash's testimony, Ventura wanted to escape Combs by climbing over a hotel balcony. Ventura ultimately left the hotel via a side exit, Nash testified.

Nash further testified that, while explaining an argument she was having with Combs, Ventura told him that Combs forced her into participating in unwanted sex with male prostitutes as part of so-called "freak-off" sexual encounters, allegedly telling Nash, “I don't want to go to the hotel and freak-off with him.”

Court resumes this morning with the defense continuing their cross-examination of Nash.

Deonte Nash remains a friend to Cassie Ventura to this day, according to his testimony during cross-examination. He told the court that he helped her pick a wedding dress and also talked to her about what she would wear while testifying at the current trial.

“It’s freezing in here. I don’t know how you all do this all day,” Nash remarked upon reentering the courtroom after a break with a jacket on.

Defense attorney Xavier Donaldson questioned Nash about his recollection of seeing a bloodied gash over Ventura’s eyebrow after she allegedly hit her head on a bed frame after what Nash testified was an attack by Combs.

“That startled you, correct?” Donaldson asked.

“Absolutely,” Nash testified.

“You still had interactions with Mr. Combs?” Donaldson asked.

“Yes,” Nash told the court in response.

“So, after the violence by Mr. Combs you invited him and Cassie to come with you to a Halloween show, correct?” Donaldson asked.

“Yes,” Nash again testified.

Court has adjourned for the day, Nash's cross-examination will resume Thursday.

Following Nash's testimony, the next witness the prosecution is expected to call will be a woman testifying under the pseudonym “Mia,” whose testimony prosecutors have said they expect to take the remainder of the week.

Cassie Ventura once thought about climbing over a balcony to escape Sean Combs, her friend and former stylist Deonte Nash testified on Wednesday.

Nash testified that the Ventura escape attempt occurred after he allegedly saw Combs get violent with Ventura and threaten to release videos of her having sex during a "freak-off." Nash told the court he had pushed Ventura to catch a cab so that she could hide from Combs in a hotel.

Nash testified that Combs showed up at his house with a bodyguard and another employee “and he was like, ‘Where the f--- is she?’ He started looking all around my house. He looked in the closets. He looked in the oven. I have no idea why he looked in the oven.”

Nash testified that when Combs learned Ventura was staying in a hotel, which Nash told the court was the Le Montrose in Beverly Hills, Combs allegedly took Nash to the hotel with him and told Nash to get Ventura to come down. Nash told the court Ventura “was frightened” after he told her “that Puff was downstairs looking for her.”

Nash told the jury Ventura said “Oh no” and then “went to the balcony and said she was going to go over the balcony.”

Instead, Nash testified that he sneaked her out of a side door.

On cross-examination, the defense asserted that Combs having the final say over Cassie Ventura’s physical looks was a business decision and not an element of coercion, as prosecutors have alleged.

“It’s important for the person who ran the label that the person look good, fair to say?” defense attorney Xavier Donaldson asked Nash.

“Sometimes, yeah,” Nash told the court in response.

Former Cassie Ventura stylist Deonte Nash testified that he saw “a lot” of blood during one instance in which he alleged Sean Combs attacked his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.

Nash testified that he, along with Ventura and a Combs employee whom the prosecution identified with the pseudonym “Mia” were in Ventura’s apartment helping her pack for a music festival when, Nash alleged, Combs arrived, “pulled her by the hair off the couch and hit her," referring to Ventura.

Nash told the court that an “enraged” Combs said, “Y’all got to stop f------ with me.”

According to Nash's testimony, Ventura retreated to her bedroom and Combs allegedly followed and “continued to attack Cassie,” hitting and kicking her "until her head hit the edge of the bed frame.”

Nash testified that "when he saw the blood he just panicked.”

The stylist testified that Combs then allegedly told him and "Mia," “Look what y’all made me do.”

Nash told the court that he attempted to call 911 but was told to hang up. Combs instead said that Ventura would be taken by his bodyguard, known as D-Roc, to a plastic surgeon, Nash testified.

Nash further testified that on another occasion, he was with Ventura in her apartment when Combs allegedly came in, saying that he wanted to talk to her.

“He grabbed her as they were walking up. He grabbed her by the hair and said, ‘You got to get the f--- out of my house,’” Nash testified.

Nash told the court that he tried to leave but Combs’ security guards allegedly blocked him, preventing him from leaving, and told him to “wait for Puff to come down.”

Later, when Nash and Ventura were able to leave and had driven off, Combs allegedly called and told him to pull over, Nash told the court.

“He came to the window and began to talk to Cassie,” Nash testified, telling the court that Combs told Ventura “that she f----- up. That he was going to put her sex tapes on the internet. He was going to release them on schedule," referring to the video recordings of sexual encounters known as "freak-offs."

"He was going to start by sending them to her parents’ jobs and her brother was a b---- and that Puff was the only one that protected her,” Nash testified Combs told Ventura.

Nash testified that Ventura was in tears and that he told her to let Combs release the tapes because “he’s on them, too.” Ventura allegedly responded that the tapes depicted her “having sex with the other guys” and “that she didn’t want to" release them, Nash told the court.

Nash testified that Ventura told him that she participated in the "freak-offs" because “Puff wanted her to.”